Spring Break 2012 - Day 2 - Georgia Aquarium

 

After very little sleep, (we got to bed around 5 AM) we got ready and walked over to the Georgia Aquarium from our hotel.  The plan was to get there and immediately eat lunch.  The place was packed.  It was a Saturday and spring break for lots of vacationers, like us.  We already purchased our tickets at the hotel, so we were able to skip the long line to get in.  That worked out perfect.  But, no matter how much planning you do, things never go as planned.

the entrance

The Georgia Aquarium is known for their Dolphin Tales show.  It's a Broadway like theater show with dolphins as the main stars.  Although, it's included in the price of admission, you have to stand in line to get separate tickets to see it.  They have several shows and can only hold a certain amount of people at each one.  As soon as we stepped foot inside the aquarium a lady walked right up to us and asked us if we wanted her tickets.  She had enough for all of us and she couldn't make that show.  Of course, we were grateful and we jumped on that.  It was starting in about 10 minutes, so we had to get right in there.  Fortunately, I packed a lot of snacks, because we were all starving.  We didn't realize until later that if we didn't see that show, we would have had to wait until after dinner and we would have had to stand in a long line to get tickets.  That couldn't have worked out any more perfectly.  The show was AWESOME!!!  The kids are now obsessed with dolphins. Plus, I took them to see the movie Dolphin Tale right before we left for vacation.

waiting for the dolphin show to begin-

no pictures allowed during the show

Right after the show, we headed straight to lunch, along with what felt like the entire population of Georgia.  It was crazy busy.  They have a cafe in there with several different types of food to choose from, then you pay and seat yourself.  There were no empty seats anywhere.  We had to split up.  I took Lincoln to get food for Lincoln, Jackson and myself.  John went to find seats with Spencer and Jackson.  Then he was going to take Spencer, so they could see what was available and pick out what they wanted.  John gave up on finding any seats near the cafe and went upstairs.  JACKPOT!!!  They pretty much ran out of seats up there, too.  So, they opened up the Oceans Ballroom.  There were tons of huge round tables and it didn't seem like too many people were on to this.  It was nice and quiet and roomy.  Normally, it would only be opened for catered events.  But, the best part is that it shares a wall with the Beluga tanks.  We pretty much had a private Beluga show.  It was so cool!  It was definitely a highlight of the vacation.  

Beluga kisses

she's smiling :')

After lunch, and that amazing Beluga bonding time, we all felt refreshed and ready to conquer the rest of the exhibits.  They have a lot of hands on and interactive things to do for the kids, tons of small tanks, penguins, the huge ginormous tank with the whale sharks and the biggest sting rays I have ever seen.  The place is amazing!  And, as we started exploring the different exhibits, the crowds started thinning out.  I think a lot of people came early and they were finishing as we were beginning.

Hammerheads in the petting tank

coral petting tank

SHARKS!!!

this dude looks mean!

moving sidewalk through the tank

making shark faces

on the moving sidewalk

whale sharks over head

giant sting rays

petting star fish

giant crabs

dragon sea horse

penguin kiss

Spencer looking at Lincoln in the tank-he's blurred behind the glass

We finished up with Deepo's Undersea 3D Wondershow.  It's a fun cartoon movie with moving seats, water sprays and confetti.  It was a great way to end the adventure!  This whole place was amazing.  The kids We all will be talking about it for a long time!  We're still in amazement about how the Dolphin Tales tickets were just handed to us upon arrival and our private Beluga show.  Sometimes, things work out so much better than you could ever plan.  Love it when that happens!

sporting the 3D glasses

pressing pennies

Spring Break 2012 - Day 1 - The Long Road to Atlanta

This is our third major road trip with the boys.  The first was to Chattanooga, TN in 2010. Lincoln and Spencer were three and Jackson was just a milk drinking baby that was happy to be in a stroller.  That trip included A Day Out With Thomas, tons of other train activities, a river boat ride, the Tennessee Aquarium, a visit to Great Great Aunt Dutch and more.  That was before we discovered our love of lighthouses.  I would like to chronicle it one day, when I catch up with everything else.

Our second major road trip was last years Road Trip Endeavour.  We spent the night in 4 different states, explored 8 lighthouses, Kennedy Space Center, beach time, water park, lots of fun restaurants, go carts, Nascars, Harleys, Great Great Aunt Dutch and more.
So, we're headed back to Daytona Beach with a two night layover in Atlanta.  Last year we had two layovers--Charlotte, NC and Savannah, GA.  I wanted to mix it up this year and try something new.  We've decided we like two nights versus short one night stays.  It gives you more of a chance to relax and get to know the city.  Our major plans for Atlanta are the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola.

loaded up and ready to go

I packed very similarly to last year, with a few inexpensive additions for the 5 year olds.  We brought the same bin full of Bugsby books, earbuds, one washable stuffed animal each, car bingo, travel blankets, Magna Doodles and DVDs.  However, this year I thought of a couple other things that excite my boys.  They LOVE to collect travel brochures and maps where ever we go.  They get out of control with papers everywhere.  But they love them and they know when one disappears, so I needed a solution.  Thankfully, just in time for vacay, Target refreshed their dollar section.  I let them each pick out an expandable file folder to organize all their papers.  They were so excited!  We went home right away and categorized them.  We also hit the dollar store and got 3 letter and number workbooks each. Then we went home and they each packed a little pencil bag.  They got to pick 3 brand new fun pencils and one new eraser each.  That way if when one falls on the floor while we're driving they have back ups and no reason to whine.  I said "no crayons" on this trip.  This is one of those things you learn from experience.  They collect approximately one million crayons from restaurants while we travel, we didn't need to bring any thing else to pack.  Finally, I gave them each a canvas shopping bag to hang from their hooks in the van to keep everything contained.  They hung low enough, so they could still see out of the windows.

Jackson was a lot easier to pack this year, too.  He's two now, so he doesn't need a lot of big baby toys anymore.  He likes a lot of small things that can play with and make eat each other. He brought and an empty wipe container full of dinosaurs, cars, planes, etc... He also keeps busy with a lot of the same things and his older brothers.  Lincoln and Spencer each brought an empty wipe container (they were fun Disney designs)  to use as a treasure box.      Every time they got something little they couldn't wait to get back to the hotel to put it in there.

giant cooler, giant snack bag and boys travel

 blankets (made by Aunt Joy)

3 boys excited for vacation

this is the weather we left behind

ice on the trees

This year the kids are five and two.  Each year gets a little easier, as far a traveling goes.  Last year we left around 5:30 pm and drove through the night.  This year played out a little differently. John got the go ahead from work a little earlier, so we tried to get a jump on it and left around 12:30 pm.  The entire week before we left it was in the high 70's and low 80's, but this week returned to winter.  We were happy to get out the second we were cleared for departure.  It worked out great at first.  Then we hit Indiana, let's just say we don't want to go back any time soon!  It was the longest state of our lives--construction, rain, rush hour, extra vacation traffic...grrrrrrr

movie time-always make sure to refresh the selection before you head out

nasty weather

We finally arrived, waaaaaaaaaaaay later than we should have.  The boys actually did pretty well in the car.  I think it's fair to say that I was more frustrated than they were.  We were exhausted, but exited to be in Atlanta!  The boys were super excited to see our high rise, big city hotel. We hit the sack around 5 am. Whew!  We only had one thing planned for the next day--The Georgia Aquarium.  After some much need sleep we'll be AOK.

view of Atlanta from high rise hotel room

Lincoln's excited face

finally in bed at 5:02 AM

about one minute after hitting the sack

my sweet

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